A Dragon's Treasure
by Schwimmschik
Summary: A small town has survived pearced on the edge of destruction for centuries, and its resielancy is once agian being tested by maurauding orc tribes from the mountains. How will the little town survive?


By: Christine Beres

Prologue 

The town of Shally had been around for centuries, yet no one wanted to live there. This was expected because Shally was on the border of mountains that were known to contain hundreds of orc tribes. It had always been a mystery why Shally had survived on the edge of destruction for generations. There may be another reason, though, that Shally does not attract that many settlers…

"So what did you find on that caravan" I asked, sounding interested. In truth, I was bored out of my mind. The simple raids that my orcs performed were trifling, we got very little treasure out of them and lost more orcs than gained treasure. But the raids did bring orcs to my clan, in ones and twos. So even with the casualties my orcs suffered during raids, my clan was still growing.

"We found lots of shines," answered my lieutenant.

"Anything else?" I asked. "Remember I told you to bring me anything and everything you found."

"Yes boss, we found some good fire starters," he said. " Gorge wanted to use them on the way home, but I wouldn't let him. I knew you would get angry." He beamed up at me.

"You mean you found some paper?" I asked. "Well, let me see it!"

My lieutenant grinned and pulled out a thick bundle of parchment from the tattered sack he was holding and handed it up to me. I shuffled through the papers. Most were letters from people on the frontier to their families. One caught my interest. It was large and thick. I unwrapped the protective covering from the bundle, pulled out the papers and began reading. It was a letter from an adventurer to someone in the town of Shally. The letter said that the adventurer had recently come across an old map that stated that the town was built on an abandoned blue dragon lair. The location of the entrance to the lair had been lost for centuries. But the adventurer had found a map that had the entrance's location on it! Behind the letter, I pulled a faded map. There was the town of Shally, with walls, one main road and a temple. And there under the mayor's house, was a circle and some writing. The writing said, "Here be Dragon Lair."

Slowly I looked up at my lieutenant and said " Lieutenant, you have been promoted to captain. Keep up the good work. You are dismissed."

"Thank you sir!" my new captain saluted me and strutted out of the tent.

"What did you find my lord?" inquired my shaman, Reaeg.

"Something that will make our clan known to all." I answered "A map to a dragon's hoard."

Runners went out to all of the other orc clans, bearing word that whoever joined my clan got an equal share in the dragon's treasure. Hundreds of orcs flooded from their caves to my banner, a tightly clenched fist on a blood-red background. All of them bloodthirsty orcs, hungering for treasure. The only thing stopping us from charging straight into the lair was the fact that a human town was in the way. That problem was soon to be remedied. Almost three thousand orcs emerged from their holes to answer my call, ten times more than lived in Shally. We were sure to win.

On the night of the full moon, a religious ceremony to the god of orcs was held. Sacrifices were made, and every one of the 2,953 orcs was whipped up in a religious frenzy that lasted the whole night. Then we were off to kill some humans, raze a town, and loot a dragon's treasure.

The town was even more poorly defended than I could have ever hoped. The townspeople put up a minimal resistance, just enough for the women, children, and elderly to escape into the surrounding woods. One human was key to holding off my army. A young human with a magical sword the sliced through even the thickest of armor held my orcs off with a handful of other men while the women and children got away. I ordered my orcs the concentrate their arrows on that same group. The leader went down with an arrow in his side, but his job was done. All of the women and children had made it safely to the woods. I commanded my hoard to let them go, the humans did not matter, the dragon's treasure did. I released my orcs to plunder and burn as they pleased, as long as they did not touch the mayor's house. The entrance to the lair was there, and I had also decided to make my temporary base in the house. I was the warlord, so of course I got the most luxurious house. I allowed my orcs to loot to their hearts content while I feasted from the mayor's kitchen. Life was finally looking up for me.

After a good night's sleep in the mayor's room, I grew bored watching the town burn, and decided to find the entrance to the lair. I pulled out the map and gathered a few troops that were not looting and burning. I walked around the house, ordering my troops to search every nook and cranny. When we neared the cemetery, one of the orcs called out "Sir! I found something!"

"What is it?" I asked as I hurried over.

"A door" he answered.

And indeed it was. Hidden under a statue of a dragon that had recently toppled over, lay a small trapdoor. The other orc pulled it open and peered inside. It was pitch black inside.

"How far down does it go?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said. "It's too dark."

I muttered, "Then why don't you find out?" and pushed him in. There was a yell, a thump and a groan. Then he called out that the drop was about six feet. I ordered one of the other orcs to fetch a torch. When he came back, I sent him down with the torch. Then I lowered myself down the hole. The cavern that the trapdoor opened up to was dark and damp. On the walls were carvings depicting dragons of all colors and sizes. A tunnel went off to the north, so we followed it. When we turned a corner we stopped. Before us was the most gold that we had ever seen in one place. There were mounds and mounds of gold in every shape possible. Gold statues, gold coins, gold rings, gold everything. We were so enthralled by all of the gold that we didn't look at anything else until our torch suddenly went out. We jumped and looked around wildly as our dark vision took hold. We heard something behind us that sounded like a loud intake of breath. We turned around slowly and looked up at our doom. I looked into the blue eyes of the ancient protector of Shally and regretted the day my captain brought me that map.

Epilogue 

Later that day the refugees from the town of Shally watched, grim but satisfied, as their old protector destroyed the orc army with its lightning breath, hiding the children's eyes from the grisly sight. Justice was served.


End file.
